The Foley City Council has approved a plan to update its district boundaries ahead of the 2025 municipal elections, basing the new boundaries on the city’s limits as of Dec. 31, 2024, with any areas annexed after that date excluded. The council, which consists of five members representing individual districts, aims to ensure that each district has approximately the same number of residents. 

Mike Thompson, city administrator, said Foley officials will use the data to adjust district boundaries based on population changes recorded in the federal census.

“We are in the process of redistricting for the upcoming municipal elections in August,” Thompson said. “One of the things that we have to do is have the council identify the date by which we fix our electorate, basically our constituent base. In the past, we've always selected the last day of the previous year, at the point in time that we determine our population, and then distribute that population to the various districts.”

Once boundaries are set, any candidate wanting to run for a council seat from that district must be living in that district as of May 28, 2025.

The changes will affect many city residents.

The last Foley election took place in 2020. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 20,335. The current population estimate is 26,500, an increase of 30.3%.

In the past, municipal elections in most cities and towns in Alabama were held in the same year as federal presidential elections. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the date for municipal elections was changed, adding one more year to the current terms.

“It's a unique time because terms in all cities are normally four years,” Hellmich said in a recent address. “They changed it to get the cycle off of the presidential elections. People don't realize what goes on behind the scenes to prepare voter rolls and things like that.”

 Municipal elections in Foley and other cities and towns will be held Aug. 26, 2025. If a runoff election is needed for any office, that election will be held Sept. 23.

Candidates can begin qualifying for office on June 10. The last day to qualify to run for municipal office is June 24.